BELONGING

Historical Background

A historian's view of Belonging:"I was ... fascinated by your fictional reconstruction of the kind of source that I use a great deal in my work on the First World War: correspondence and diaries are such wonderful revelations about the inter-subjectivity of history and when one can find ways (as a historian) to read enough of them, one can (cautiously) begin to see patterns and make generalisations."John Horne, MRIA, Emeritus Fellow, former Professor of Modern European History, Trinity College Dublin, Leverhulme Visiting Professor, University of Oxford (2016-17) and editor of: A Companion to World War I (Wiley Blackwell Companions to World History)

The historical background to Belonging includes the Indian Revolt of 1857, or the Indian Mutiny, as it was known to the British, although the uprising was not confined to the army. One of the famous leaders of the revolt was the Rani of Jhansi, who to this day remains a great heroine in India. Belonging covers the events that took place at Cawnpore, the horror of which gave rise among the British to the saying, 'Remember Cawnpore!' as a watchword against native treachery.

The novel also covers the Suffragette movement and the First World War, in particular the part played by Indian soldiers on the Western Front and in Mesopotamia. One of the scenes is set in the Indian Hospital in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, where the soldiers were nursed in the disused royal palace. It was said that some soldiers, waking to find themselves in the magnificently decorative rooms, thought they were in Paradise.

Here is alink to a film shot in 2010 at the Chattri above Brighton, which was built on the site where the bodies of Sikhs and HIndus who died at the Indian hospital were cremated. In the 14 years I have been attending it, the ceremony has grown from a handful of local Sikhs and other residents paying informal respects to a full blown ceremony with the Indian High Commissioner, representatives of the British Legion and British Army, the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex, the Mayors of Brighton & Hove and neighbouring towns and the Sheriff of Lewes, as well as coachloads of Sikhs for Southall and local residents. This year about 300 people attended.

Earlier this year (2016), in commemoration of the centenary of the Indian Hospital, there was a special tour and exhibition about the Indian Hospital at the Pavilion. In May, as part of the Brighton festival, the Dr Blighty events commemorated the part Indian soldiers played in the First World War with installations in the Pavilion Gardens dramatising different aspects of hospital life, vivid and dramatic projections on the front of the Pavilion that stopped traffic on the main road into Brighton, and the unveiling of a blue plaque to Mir Dast, who was awarded the Victoria Cross while at the hospital.This is an extract from his entry on Wikipedia:"On 26 April 1915 at Ypres, Belgium, Jemadar Mir Dast led his platoon with great bravery during the attack, and afterwards collected various parties of the regiment (when no British officers were left) and kept them under his command until the retirement was ordered. He also displayed great courage that day when he risked his life to carry eight wounded British and Indian officers to safety while exposed to very heavy fire."Even more interestingly, Mir Dast's brother, Mir Mast, defected to the Germans, who eventually awarded him the Iron Cross. The brothers fought on different sides for the rest of the war. You can read the whole story here on the Brighton Museum website. You can also take a stunning virtual tour of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and imagine what these soldiers must have felt when they woke up to find themselves in the midst of its dreamlike oriental decor.

The Mesopotamian Campaign, dubbed by British soldiers on the Western Front 'The Mesopotamian Picnic', was in reality a terrible campaign."Like Gallipoli, conditions in Mesopotamia defy description. Extremes of temperature (120 degrees F was common); arid desert and regular flooding; flies, mosquitoes and other vermin: all led to appalling levels of sickness and death through disease. Under these incredible conditions, units fell short of officers and men, and all too often the reinforcements were half-trained and ill-equipped. Medical arrangements were quite shocking, with wounded men spending up to two weeks on boats before reaching any kind of hospital. These factors, plus of course the unexpectedly determined Turkish resistance, contributed to high casualty rates.

11012 killed

3985 died of wounds

12678 died of sickness

13492 missing and prisoners (9000 at Kut)

51836 wounded

data from "Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire" (London: HMSO, 1920).

The above extract was taken from this site where you can read more about it.